Unexpected Destiny

by Trevor Gregg

  Another blast shook the station and the lights flickered. The holopanel blinked on and off several times. Benjam worked at the controls, bringing up his “design matrix” whatever that was, Kyren had no idea. He began a manipulating it and then overlayed it with another similar image. The two images merged and lines began to rearrange. The final pattern lit green.

  “But… how? I can’t believe it. You’ve solved my theory of bending time. Who are you people?” he exclaimed, looking from Alis to Kyren to Elarra and back again, his yellow eyes going wild.

  Benjam began to hyperventilate, and his tentacles began to curl inward. Suddenly he closed his eyes, retracted all his tentacles, from top and bottom both. His mouth shut and his face folded into his body. He went rigid and toppled over like a log.

  “Quick, grab him and let’s go, before he comes to,” Elarra instructed.

  Kyren just stood there stunned, unable to understand what just happened to the strange creature.

  “What the…?” Alis questioned, trailing off.

  “He’s gone into a sort of protective stasis. When threatened, brontians assume this form to defend themselves. Quick, let’s carry him out of here before he returns to normal,” Elarra urged.

  Kyren looked at Alis and nodded toward the strange being, now like a fleshy purple log. They hoisted him and made their way out the door.

  38

  EMP

  Kyren and Alis carried Benjam between them, as Elarra followed with his large case, struggling to keep up. It had been several minutes when Benjam finally began to come around. His tentacles slowly began to uncurl, so they quickly set him down. Moments later, his face popped out of his torso and his eyes flicked open.

  His yellow orbs narrowed and he pushed himself into an upright position. “Where are we?”

  “We’re making our way back to the ship. Since you were incapacitated, we didn’t want to leave you behind,” Alis placated.

  “We’re too far from the escape pods now, looks like you’ll have to come with us,” Elarra said with authority.

  “Okay, fine, I’ll go with you people. But then you drop me at Omega Prime,” Benjam declared.

  “Agreed,” Elarra replied.

  “It’s gonna take too long to go back the way we came. Benjam, do you have access to station schematics?” Kyren asked. “Maybe we can find a faster route.”

  Benjam extracted a holotablet from his satchel and handed it to Kyren, “It’s connected to the station network.”

  It took a few moments of searching before Kyren found what he was looking for.

  “Okay, let’s have a look at maintenance tunnels,” he said, examining the display intently.

  Kyren worked at the console, finessing the data from a myriad of sources, his fingers flying over the holopanel. After a brief flurry, he began to display schematics and maps on the screen, flipping through them, making annotations on some.

  “Okay I’ve got our route, we should get going before you-know-who gets here,” he said ominously.

  “Who is you-know-who?” Benjam asked nervously.

  “Never mind him,” Elarra soothed. “We should be okay if we hurry.”

  As Benjam trailed them, he asked again, “but who is you-know-who?” softly, almost to himself. He squiggled onward without an answer.

  Kyren led them through the winding, twisting maintenance corridors in search of the staging yard. Again he was thankful for his uncanny ability to follow a map in his head.

  Kyren was filled with dread when they stopped short as the buzzsaw sound of a burst of gunfire echoed down the hall. Maintenance workers in orange jumpsuits attempting to flee poured into the corridor, only to be gunned down in the intersection before they could find cover. Clattering around the corner, stepping over the dead bodies of those it had just gunned down, a deathbot came into view.

  Kyren paled and choked out “Run!”

  It turned to face them them, its red eyes flaring, and clanked across the deckplates as it crawled on its spider legs towards them. It raised the weapons pods and a whine began to emit as the weapons charged up. Benjam squiggled forward while reaching into his satchel. He fumbled for a moment, as they heard the weapons nearing a full charge.

  He finally withdrew a circular disk two inches diameter, and tossed it in front of him. It bounced once and came to rest just about the center of the space. Blue light flared from the disk and extended outward, creating a blue shield of energy covering the entire corridor.

  Mere milliseconds after the barrier was erected, barrages from both weapons pods streaked down the corridor straight at them. The high velocity slugs slammed into the shield, but the kinetic energy dissipated. Several more barrages slammed into the barrier but it held strong.

  “It’ll hold off the weapons but it won’t stop the thing from walking through and then blasting us” Benjam said with urgency.

  “This way,” Kyren said as he led them down another corridor and directed them to a crawlspace. “There!” he pointed at the large grate in the wall. Alis reconfigured her wrench into a pry bar and quickly removed the grate.

  Elarra entered the small crawlspace in a low crouch, following Alis. Benjam squiggled in behind her and Kyren pulled up the rear, pulling the grating back into place. They could hear the sounds of pursuit, the deathbot clacking across the deck plates coming after them.

  Reaching the end of the crawlspace, Alis pried the grate open and crawled out of the passage. Kyren followed and found himself at the dead-end of a short maintenance corridor, a door lying at the far end. Benjam had just exited the crawlspace into the corridor, when the door at the far end slid open. Alis gasped in terror.

  “You will die today. All of you. Your interference will not alter my plans,” Tharox began, his wide frame blocking the door.

  “Epsilon Computer, who is this strange being that I have not foreseen?!” he said in obvious surprise at Benjam’s presence, as he began to stride towards them. “No matter, you will all die this day.”

  Kyren shot a glance back to the crawlspace. They wouldn’t be able to escape before he was on them. He drew his blaster from his belt and began to fire before anyone could decide a course of action. Tharox cackled as the blue bolt of energy washed harmlessly over him. With tremendous speed he surged forward and delivered a mighty blow from one enhanced robotic arm straight to Kyren’s chest, driving him back into his companions. Benjam attempted to catch him with one of his tentacles, but bumped Elarra and caused her to drop his case, which popped open, scattering the contents on the floor.

  Kyren landed hard enough to knock the wind out of him, leaving him dazed for a short moment. Alis pulled out her wrench, still transforming into a hammer while it was swinging down in an arc for the back of Tharox’s head. Without even looking, he threw a strike backward and caught Alis in the gut, sending her stumbling and her wrench clattering to the floor.

  Turning on Benjam, Tharox reached out to seize him, but Benjam’s tentacles wrapped around Tharox’s wrists. His slender tentacles were much stronger than they appeared, and he was able to hold Tharox back. For a moment, at least. They grappled and danced around, each trying to get the upper hand, find some leverage.

  Bringing the awkward dance to a close, Tharox planted his foot on Benjam’s face and pulled with all his strength, servos in his arms whining and straining. With a disgusting pop, two of Benjam’s tentacles ripped free and black ichor sprayed from the stumps as he fell heavily to the deck, shrieking.

  “Hey Tharox!” Elarra shouted.

  She was standing amongst the scattered contents of the case, holding a strange device in her hands. It had a large metallic wire basket shaped into a hemisphere on the front, with two large electrodes inside. The squat body of the device had two handles and a trigger. She pulled the trigger and a whining sound began as the device charged up. A second later a blue orb formed within the basket and hung there for a second before blasting outward in a great expanding bubble of crackling blue energy.

  As i
t washed over Tharox, he suddenly went limp and fell heavily to the floor. The lights in the passage way showered sparks and blew out, plunging them into darkness. A light sprang on and Alis was revealed holding her wrench, now configured as a light source.

  “We need to go now,” Benjam said as he righted himself and began rapidly slithering toward the door, ichor dripping from his stumps, which even now Elarra could see were starting to grow back. “He won’t be down for long, that’s just an EM bubble generator. Its effects have only temporarily disabled his cybernetic limbs.”

  They dashed past Tharox and through the door into a branching corridor as he let out a furious howl. Alis spun and keyed the door shut just as the wicked cyborg was beginning to stand. Activating her cutting laser, she brought it into contact with the door’s control panel. It exploded in a shower of sparks. As they bolted down the corridor, Kyren could hear pounding on the door and the screeching of metal, as it began to buckle outward from the blows.

  39

  Wild Ride

  Alis followed close on Kyren’s heels as he led them through twists and turns, dodging down passageways seemingly at random. Turning a corner, Alis finally spotted a door labeled “Maintenance Yard.” Kyren hit the panel next to the door, but it flashed red.

  “Stand back,” Alis said, transforming her wrench as she approached the panel. She extracted electrodes and placed them on the panel. She worked at the small control panel in the side of the wrench. Several seconds later the panel went green and the door whooshed open. Closing the door behind them, Alis hit the control panel with her laser. She knew it wouldn’t stop him, but it might slow him down.

  She looked around and immediately spotted the most interesting feature in the large space. There was a hangar bay with three squat, green, well-worn shuttles. She made for the first one and rapidly inspected the exterior before opening the hatch and climbing in. She motioned for the others to climb in as she began the ignition sequence.

  “Benjam, are you okay?” Kyren asked.

  “I’m fine,” he replied cheerily.

  “But your arms’ are off!” Kyren exclaimed.

  “No they aren’t,” was Benjam’s reply. “Er, well, yeah but they’re growing back.”

  Alis glanced back to see he had already regrown several feet of his two tentacles. And thankfully he had stopped oozing black ichor.

  “So that was you-know-who. Why was he trying to kill us?” Benjam queried, his voice cracking. “What did I do to him? Why…”

  “Less talking, more concentrating!” Alis reprimanded.

  She powered up the shuttle and immediately lifted off, testing the controls experimentally. As she swung around, the door they had entered through exploded outward, clattering across the deck plates as it slid to a stop. Tharox strode into the hangar just as Alis hit the throttle, rocketing them roughly through the force field at the yard’s mouth and into the main tunnel.

  The shuttle shot down the wide tunnel, the black square of space at the end growing larger as they sped on. Short moments later, the shuttle burst from the tunnel and out into open space, as Alis struggled to avoid the weapons fire that was suddenly directed at them. A triangular craft had engaged them. Shit! She thought.

  “I’ll stay close to the station and try to lose them,” Alis cried, as she maneuvered closer to the station, fear injecting adrenaline into her system.

  Alis dodged the shuttle around support columns, under gantries, and over communications dishes as she pushed the shuttle to its top speed. Bursts of energy streaked past them as she performed evasive maneuvers, jostling them around the cockpit. A communications tower was blasted free and began a rapid tumble straight at the shuttle. Alis performed a barrel roll and corkscrewed around it.

  “There!” Kyren pointed off to the left. “Is that another tunnel?”

  Alis broke the shuttle toward the tunnel and coaxed just a little more speed out of the aged craft. She made the turn, throwing them against the wall as she performed a near ninety-degree maneuver. The craft bounced and skittered off the tunnel walls until Alis regained control. It screamed down the tunnel, barely enough room to spare. She could see a shaft ahead, rapidly approaching. Performing another ninety degree turn, the shuttle shot out of the station once more.

  “I think we lost it,” Alis said with relief after looking around. Spotting the hangar, she dove through the entrance and brought the shuttle to a halt next to the Ashari. Hurriedly boarding the ship, Alis dove into the pilot’s seat.

  As she was initiating systems, she called out with authority “Alright people, I need a jump solution, shields up, and weapons online.”

  Kyren readied the shields, and after scrolling through the weapons, asked Alis, “what’s a DS turret?”

  “Discarding Sabot. Bring it online, it fires solid projectiles that pierce EM barriers, maybe that will hurt these buggers,” she replied while rapidly working her own controls.

  The engines came to life and the ship lifted from the deck, the landing gear retracting. They all let out a collective gasp as they saw the black ship rise into view, blocking the opening as it powered up its weapons.

  Alis rolled the craft to the right, dodging the blast but crashing through a row of parked shuttles. Feeling trapped, she desperately tried to come up with a plan. Several more beams lanced into the hangar bay, Alis dodging all but one, which overpowered the shields and burned a long furrow in the ship’s skin, sending up sparks and gouts of flame.

  A panel opened on the underside of the ship and a turret with twin cannons popped out. Kyren triggered it and the turrets whined as they spat out high velocity non-ferrous slugs. The stream of fire stitched its way up the deck toward the opening and the lurking ship.

  The slugs found their mark and punched into the vessel, sending out a shower of sparks and flame. Alis cheered as the ship broke off its barrage and disappeared from view. Without hesitation she hit full throttle and the ship shot from the hangar bay like a bullet from a gun.

  “Alis, I don’t know where we’re going. I was only able to do it last time because I had foreseen it,” Elarra admitted hesitantly.

  “So you haven’t seen this? What the hell, Elarra?” Alis blurted, while tracking inbound craft.

  “I believe I can calculate a jump path,” Benjam said, surprising Alis.

  “Do it!” she barked.

  Benjam set himself before the console and began his calculations, “Do you have a specific destination in mind? Perhaps I should run a search based on parameters?”

  “No! Just pick a star and get us there!” Alis bellowed, dodging the fire from the incoming triangular craft.

  “Um, yes, but would you like an inhabited system, or a barren one?” Benjam questioned timidly.

  “Any. One. Will. Do,” Alis said through gritted teeth, while barrel rolling the Ashari.

  “Calculating final solution now, I think you should have the vector on your screen,” Benjam informed her as she maneuvered the Ashari to avoid the black ships.

  “Time to get out of here,” Alis cried as she lined up on the provided vector, then slapped the warp drive’s engage button.

  40

  Convince Me

  As Elarra’s mind cleared, she looked around at the faces of her companions and felt a pang of guilt. How could she tell them everything? There were things she had to hold back, or it could affect the outcome, and she couldn’t afford to risk the future. The galaxy couldn’t afford her to risk it.

  Elarra straightened as her eyes began to focus. “Where are we?”

  “I jumped us nearly our full range to HD 201345, a massive O type star,” Benjam replied.

  “Sensor readings show we’re alone, no other ships in orbit detected,” Alis reported. “The star’s output should mask our signal, and there are no warp gates here.”

  Elarra was beginning to suspect several things. Between the knowledge gleaned from her visions and their recent experiences, she thought she had figured it out. Now she would need to convinc
e the others.

  “While I am grateful indeed for the ride off the station at that opportune moment, what exactly is going on here? Will someone please explain? Who the hell was that guy?” Benjam said pointedly.

  “His name is Tharox,” Alis informed him. “And he is one unpleasant son-of-a-bitch.”

  “Well I certainly found that out,” Benjam replied, wiggling his newly regrown tentacles.

  “We know he’s a bad guy, he tried to kill Alis, and you Benjam,” Kyren began. “But what I want to know, Elarra, is how the heck he keeps getting ahead of us.”

  “It would seem that he has some foreknowledge of events. Prescience would explain much,” she said.

  “What? He can see the future? I don’t believe it.” Benjam said, flabbergasted.

  “I believe he intends to destroy the Consortium,” she proposed. “And I believe him to be capable. As you saw, he has already begun.”

  She knew it went well beyond the Consortium though. Tharox would murder and destroy until there was nothing left. Her visions had shown her that.

  “So if this guy can wipe out the entire Consortium, when millennia of war couldn’t destroy them, how the hell are we going to stand a chance?” Kyren exclaimed, incredulous. “I mean, you saw him take us down. He ripped Benjam’s tentacles clean off.”

  “It is time I showed you this,” Elarra said, extracting her journal and laying it out on the control panel. She revealed a page depicting Kyren and Alis standing on either side of a strange device, a great globe of energy hovering above them. “That is Tharox’s destruction. That is what you will build for us, Benjam.”

  “Wait, me?” Benjam replied in surprise.

  “What could I build that could possibly destroy a prescient cyborg with unstoppable ships and heavily armed deathbots. And anyway, who said I was even going with you crazy lot,” he continued fervently.